Dynamics 365 App for Outlook User's Guide

Use Microsoft Dynamics 365 App for Outlook to tap the power of Dynamics 365 while you’re using Outlook on the desktop, web, or phone. When Dynamics 365 App for Outlook is installed, depending on which version of the app you have installed, you'll see a Dynamics 365 pane or window next to a selected Outlook email message, or when you're composing an email message or setting up a meeting or appointment.

For example, when you open an email message, view information from Dynamics 365 about the email recipients. Or with a single click, link an Outlook email message or appointment to a specific Dynamics 365 record. When you link an email message or appointment to a Dynamics 365 record, the Outlook record appears as an activity for that record in Dynamics 365.

We made significant updates to the app in the December 2016 update for Dynamics 365 (online and on-premises). If your screen looks like the following, you're using the version included in December 2016 update for Dynamics 365 (online and on-premises):

View information about Dynamics 365 contacts and leads while you’re working in Outlook. You can view this info in the context of an email message, meeting, or appointment. For example, view phone numbers, company name, last and next activities, and recent records from Dynamics 365.

Link email messages, meetings, and appointments to a Dynamics 365 record with a single click. For example, link an email message to a specific account, opportunity, or case. Dynamics 365 App for Outlook also supports custom entities.

Open Dynamics 365 records directly to find or enter more detailed information.

Add a phone call, task, or appointment activity to Dynamics 365.

Create a new Dynamics 365 record for any entity (record type), as long as the entity has been enabled for mobile and for multi-entity search.

Add email templates, knowledge articles, and sales literature when you create an email message or set up a meeting.

Track Outlook contacts in Dynamics 365.

Tip

Dynamics 365 App for Outlook is a Microsoft Office add-in. As of the December 2016 update for Dynamics 365 (online and on-premises), Dynamics 365 App for Outlook paired with server-side synchronization is the preferred way to use Outlook together with Dynamics 365. You may also be familiar with Dynamics 365 for Outlook, which provides complete Dynamics 365 capabilities (including offline capabilities) from Outlook. Note that tracking activities is not supported when Dynamics 365 App for Outlook and Dynamics 365 for Outlook are used together by the same user. Choose one or the other. For more information about Dynamics 365 for Outlook, see Dynamics 365 for Outlook User's Guide.

You can link an email message or meeting to a specific Dynamics 365 record, such as an account, opportunity, or case, by clicking the Set Regarding button . Dynamics 365 automatically tracks the email or meeting, and links it to the record indicated in the Dynamics 365 pane.

One of the first things you might want to do when you receive a customer email, is add the person as a contact or lead to Dynamics 365. In the Dynamics 365 pane, click (+) and then select Contact or Lead.

Note

If the sender of the email is unknown to Dynamics 365, when you add the contact or lead, the email is automatically tracked in Dynamics 365 and set regarding this contact or lead. To stop tracking, you can manually untrack the regarding email.

You can monitor an email message after you send it to see the number of times that the message is viewed, opened, replied to, or forwarded. For a monitored email message, you can also see the last activity related to the email message, or view all activity related to the message.

Track the email message or link it to a record in Dynamics 365. You can’t monitor an email message unless you track it or link it (set a regarding record).

In the Dynamics 365 pane, click Follow, and then click Follow this email.

Note

Any recipients that can’t be followed will be displayed at the bottom of the Dynamics 365 pane.

Send the message in Outlook.

Important

Do not edit the email message or change the recipients after you follow it. If you edit an email message after it’s followed, you may inadvertently delete the monitoring information or you may inadvertently add recipients who shouldn’t be followed.

If you frequently send the same type of email, you can save time by using an email template. When you use an email template, Dynamics 365 App for Outlook automatically inserts the Dynamics 365 information such as contacts or set regarding information in the email message.

For example, you could use a Thank you template to save time whenever you want to send a thank you message to a customer.

You can track Outlook contacts in Dynamics 365 by using the Dynamics 365 add-in, an Outlook solution module. The add-in is automatically installed when you install Dynamics 365 App for Outlook. You can access it as described below.

You can’t select a contact listed under the Dynamics 365 Contacts tab.

In the contacts list, select the check box next to the appropriate contact.

On the ribbon, click Link.

Do one of the following:

On the right side of the screen, select the account to link to, and then click Link at the bottom of the screen.

-Or-

To create a new account, on the right side of the screen, click New at the bottom of the screen.

Enter the new account name.

Click Save.

Click the Refresh button.

Note

If the contact isn’t already tracked, the contact will be tracked immediately and will be linked to the account. If the contract isn’t already tracked, the account record will be synchronized in the next synchronization cycle.

Enter a value in the Search box. You can search for data stored in the Full name, Company, Department, and Business address fields. You can’t search for data stored in the Tracking status, Business phone, or Email fields.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 App for Outlook included in Dynamics CRM Online 2016 Update 1 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 Service Pack 1 is a lightweight app you can use to view
Dynamics 365 information and track email from within
Outlook. The
Dynamics 365 data appears right in your
Outlook Inbox.

With
Dynamics 365 App for Outlook, you can:

Tap the power of
Dynamics 365 while working in the familiar
Outlook environment.

Track incoming or outgoing email wherever you are, as long as you have access to a browser.

Track email or view
Dynamics 365 data from a desktop computer or phone.

Link an incoming or outgoing email record to an existing record in
Dynamics 365. For example, you might want to link an email message to a specific account or opportunity.

Convert an email message into a new
Dynamics 365 record.

Find out whether an email message is already tracked, and change the regarding record (the
Dynamics 365 record the message is linked to).

Create
Dynamics 365 contact records for people on the
From list that aren’t already included in the
Dynamics 365 database. You can also create new
Dynamics 365 records for any entity (record type), as long as the entity has been enabled for mobile and for multi-entity search.

Preview information about contacts and leads stored in
Dynamics 365. For example, you can find a phone number or company name for a contact or lead, or preview the last and next activities for a contact or lead.

Open
Dynamics 365 records directly to find or enter more detailed information.

Your
Dynamics 365 system administrator can deploy
Dynamics 365 App for Outlook to your organization or you can add it yourself as long as you have the required security privileges (the
Use Dynamics 365 App for Outlook privilege) and if your organization synchronizes incoming email with
server-side synchronization. The system will let you know if these prerequisites have not been met when you attempt to add the app. If you’re an admin, and you want to learn about deploying the app, see
Deploy Dynamics 365 App for Outlook (lightweight app).

Select the email message in your Inbox, and then click the
Dynamics
Dynamics 365 tab.

When an email message is from an unknown sender (the sender isn’t already a contact or lead in
Dynamics 365), you’ll see the following screen:

Click
Create new contact.

The
First Name,
Last Name, and
Email fields are already filled in for you. The
Phone Number field will be filled in if it’s available.

In the
Create Contact form, fill in other fields (as much or as little as you like), and then click
Save when you’re done entering info, or click
Edit to open the
Dynamics 365 contact form to enter more details.

Note

If you want to enter information for a lead instead of a contact, don’t fill in any information in the
Create Contact form. You can track the email regarding a new lead instead, as described below.

When you click
Save in the
Create Contact form, the app displays contact card information, as well as empty sections for
Next Activity,
Last Activity, and the first two lists on the contact form. By default, these lists are
Case Associated View and
Opportunity Associated View. These sections are empty because the contact doesn’t have any related records in
Dynamics 365 yet.

To track the email, click
Track.

Do one of the following:

If you don’t want to link the email message to an existing
Dynamics 365 record, click
Or, track without setting a regarding record.

To link the email message to an existing record in
Dynamics 365, in the search box, enter a keyword (for example, a company name), click
Lookup, and then select one of the records in the resulting list.

When you select a record, the record appears next to
To be tracked regarding. To open the record in
Dynamics 365, click the link.

Note

When you click
Track, tracking with
Dynamics 365 should take place right away. If syncing doesn’t occur after a few minutes, ask your administrator to verify that server-side synchronization is working for sending email from
Dynamics 365.

To create a new record in
Dynamics 365 (for example, to create a lead record instead of a contact record) and link it to the email activity record:

Click
New next to any enabled entity.

In the quick create form, fill out the fields.

Click
Save to save the record if you’re done adding information. To enter more detailed information, click
Save and edit in
Dynamics 365.

Select the email message in your Inbox, and then click the
Dynamics
Dynamics 365 tab.

The information you’ll see includes:

Contact information about the person (lead or contact) the email message is from

Next and last activities

Other related records, which include records from lists on the associated entity’s main form

Note

The related records you see may vary based on whether your system has been customized.
Dynamics 365 App for Outlook displays two records from each view. If you want to see all records related to a contact or lead, click the contact or lead name in the contact card.